Remarkable Countdown
by Pink Freesia
Summary: After a lifetime, 3 children and multiple grand-children with him, Mikan stands beside the coffin of his husband as she speaks her last farewell. "You promised to never leave me. Until we meet again, Neko."


**Disclaimer: All disclaimer rules applied.**

_AN. This is an adapted story. __This story as inspired by November Romeo's story, In Memoriam._

After several days of staying strong for her children, she has reached the point where she couldn't control herself anymore. After keeping all the tears and emotions, here comes the day of her last farewell. On the verge of tears, she walks up to the little platform put up beside the coffin. She looked at her children as they smiled for her to go on. Smiling back appreciatively, she nodded and spoke to the little crowd gathered.

"I met him as a notorious little boy. We first met when I tried to enter the school of my longtime childhood best friend," she nodded and smiled to Hotaru who as seated beside her daughter. "A school for elites and talented young people of Japan where students are protected by the government. I was on the outside of the gates and he was standing on a branch of a tree inside the gates. I remember so well how I yelled for him to get down before he hurt himself- well, until I realized that his intention was to escape and that I blew his cover," she chuckled lightly of the memory.

"When I got in, I found out what he as capable of- his power, perhaps- and that what he did would eventually kill him. Even before I got into the academy, I found out that his classmates- who eventually became mine, too- had already expected an early death. He was sent on dangerous missions that the school required certain students to do, but we were only 13! He would return at dawn with cuts and bruises on his body and face, so I confided on helping him every time. He would always push me away, but I have always been stubborn. A year after I stayed, we started going out and he stayed more instead of going to missions- yet our friends' view of his death hasn't changed, but I still stayed."

"They said, at an early age of 15 he was going to die. I didn't think so and so I kept him positive that he will live longer, and he did. We went through junior and senior level together while he always got the highest remarks. When we graduated, I thought 'my long wish for him to stop his missions was fulfilled'. Soon, we got out of the elite academy leaving all the bad memories behind."

"We started our own life after school yet still, people thought the same. 'He'll leave at 25,' they said, but he didn't. He asked for my hand in marriage and e wedded on his 26th. He spoke of the most unexpected vows and promised to leave me never," her friends smiled at the recall as witnesses at the wedding. "We were happy, then. His little business grew after its third year and so it as an age of celebrations. Soon, with our little boy, we built a new home.

"I still met up with my old friends even after our wedding. I saw in their faces how they pity me thinking my husband would have left me at 35. But he didn't. In fact, his business became one of the most famous and salable in the country and became a very successful business man. He touched lives of people we didn't know through charity- even taking little kids and elders to his charity. Every now and then, he would bring me and his company to mountains and little faraway towns to share food and medicine to the poor. Our old home grew larger, by then, especially with our 2 new babies" she smiled widely to her younger son and only daughter.

"Yet the false prediction never ended and said 45 would've been his last, and still it wasn't. He was the responsible father during those years as he helped our eldest through high school. When our little boy would have a baseball game, he would always be there and cheer for him despite his busy schedule. His devotion to save the world and prevent kids from doing what he did when e were young hasn't recurred and he was still on charity for kids. The kids- those of ours and not-, "she giggled at the unintentional jibe, "loved him and we both saw that."

"At 50, the countdown stopped, finally. People probably realized that no matter how long their countdown may go, he would still be as strong as a bull. In fact, he barely felt weak. Only occasionally when the effects of his missions back then would recur, coughing and sometimes spitting blood, but he never consulted to a doctor. He said it was fine and how he was used to it. The peak of his success has reached and he stayed humble to the people. Whenever his success was publicized, he was always proud to bring mine and the kids' name with him."

This time, Mikan reflexively bowed her head realizing what she would have to say next. "A week before he could turn 65, he started to feel uneasy and he felt cold despite the warmth of the room. I called up my kids- our little doctors and lawyer- and asked them to help me bring their father to the hospital for Intensive Care. I stayed with him always at the ICU while the kids watched through the family room, occasionally entering the unit even with the limitation. We celebrated his 65th birthday with our kids and their families. I remember the nurse trying to argue that it wasn't allowed," She chuckled at the idea then faced her children and smiled at how they worked things out, "but it was eventually solved. Meanwhile, I watched him enjoy and laugh with the kids- playing with little squeaky toys and laugh at his jokes. It wasn't like his usual extravagant parties but we were content."

"Later that night, the doctor asked me out of the room and slowly- even going around the bush- explained how Natsume's condition weakened and assumed that he had only a week to live. To say I was sad, devastated even, is an understatement. There was no emotion that could've possibly explained how I felt. A mixture of loathe, hate, pity, disappointment and ultimate sadness. When the doctor left, I softly called out the kids and told them of their father's situation. My little girl cried so much while her brother hugged her and the other hugged me as well," she looked at them apologetically for having to share that little experience. "I was left stoic thinking that if I had shown a single sway, I would've broken down, too."

"I went back to the ICU and actually smiled. I remembered how people would put an end to his life. How they tried to predict an age if he'd lose his life, but nobody ever predicted that he'd reached this long. I never actually mined ho people used to _countdown_ his life like it was some sort of awaited firework on a new year. But when the doctor told me, and seeing his weakening condition, there was nothing else I could believe in more- unless it was cure. Five days ago- that was a week and a half after _the_ talk with the doctor; he even proved the doctor's countdown wrong- he asked me to sleep beside him on the hospital bed and had my arms around him and so did he on me. The morning I woke up, well, he didn't. I remembered his last words to me before we let sleep take over us,

'_Love_, there is nothing I regret in this life. Most of all, those missions because then I wouldn't have met you. Take care of our precious little ones and never let them leave your side- I'll knock their teeth off if they ever do' as he breathlessly chuckled, 'never hurt yourself, _polka_… I will always be with you.'"

By now, the crowd silently sobbed along with her. The tears that always threatened to spill since the doctor talked to her started to fall even while she was still on the platform, in front of the many people who her husband touched lives. Her children walked up to her, wiped her tears away and helped her to her to the front of her husband. Just then, the coffin was being buried 6-feet below the ground and flowers started to jump around her. It was a last to see his face through the coffin's glass.

When the people left, she told her kids to go ahead to the car and she would follow soon. She walked to his grave where now stands a marble inscribed,, 'here lies the body of a generous man, a protective friend, a loving father and a wonderful husband- Natsume Hyuuga.' She smiled down his grave and said, "You are the most unfair man I have ever met, you know that? You promised to never leave me," and once again, her ceased tears started to fall. "But you deserve a rest from all the sacrifices and changes you have made in this world. _'Til we meet again, *Neko._

The end

_AN. Neko- cat; a pseudonym he was given in Dangerous class._

_Written March 2011. Posted July 25, 2012._


End file.
